Cosy Prisons
by YouHaveLovelyHair
Summary: This one-shot has turned into a series of one-shots featuring all of the main ARC characters. Please read and review - and, above all, enjoy!
1. Becker

**A/N This one shot came to me in the car today as I was listening to one of my A-ha CDs. It was the lyrics that prompted it and I just had to write it. Thought it would be fun to have Emily talking to Becker, they have a fairly abrasive relationship and she would be unlikely to take any nonsense from him! Please review and let me know what you think! :-) NO LONGER A ONE-SHOT, BUT A SERIES OF SHORT CHAPTERS...  
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><p><strong>BECKER<br>**

"_So if you're careful, you won't get hurt  
>But if you're careful all the time, then what's it worth?"<em>

**Cosy Prisons - A-ha**

Becker was sat in the armoury, as usual, cleaning a gun. There were lots of guns all lined up, ready to be cleaned. He intended on staying in the armoury, alone, for a very long time. Above all, he was not going to think about Jess, at all. He refused to think about how close he had come to losing her, twice, over the past few weeks. First to the beetles and then to the future predators. How she had managed to keep herself and Lester alive was still a mystery to him, he had never had chance to ask her, but she had been quieter, more withdrawn since the incident. She didn't smile as often and he missed that.

Damn, he wasn't doing a very good job of not thinking about her. He banged the cleaned gun into its case and picked up the next one, dismantling it easily, his eyes closed, concentrating on his breathing and trying to clear his mind.

A whirlwind blazed its way noisily into the armoury, banging the door out of its path. Sighing he opened his eyes and looked up. Emily, just what he didn't need. The Victorian woman, dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and one of Matt's shirts tied up at her waist, stood staring at him and he stared back with a sour look on his face, waiting for her to speak.

"Captain Becker," she began, paused, then began again. "Is it really necessary to clean all these guns?"

"Yes," he stated shortly. "And I'd rather do it alone if you don't mind."

She sighed loudly. "You don't like me much, do you Becker?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Becker raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to reply, but she held up her hand to silence him.

"Its all right. I understand. My husband didn't like me much either," Emily admitted, without the slightest tinge of regret. "I'm opinionated, abrasive and I don't like to do what I'm told. I believe that annoys Matt also."

Becker smirked but said nothing. Emily walked towards him slowly and sat on the bench next to him. Becker sighed. Clearly she was not going to leave and had much more to say.

"Captain Becker, I must speak with you and I urge you to listen to me, whether you like me or not," she said fervently, leaning towards him.

Becker rubbed his chin. "Its not that I don't like you Emily. I would like you to follow orders when I give them however," he told her gently.

She smiled wryly. "I would still be at home with my husband if I followed orders, Becker. But I'm not, because I choose my own path."

Becker regarded her intently for a long moment. "I think you are a very brave, courageous woman, Emily. But you are also foolhardy and reckless."

She laughed, tipping her head back and making her brown curls bounce. "Foolhardy and reckless I will agree with. Brave and courageous, hardly! Selfish, stubborn and unladylike, my husband would say!"

Becker leaned back and smiled. "You left behind everything you knew to live in a different time with people you hardly know. You have put yourself in harm's way to help us and become a valuable member of this team. I would call that brave and courageous." He may not like her attitude but he admired her spirit and he wanted her to know that.

Emily scoffed. "That was not courageous, Becker, that was selfish. I left behind my husband, my family and friends because I didn't want to be the person they wanted me to be. My husband was ready to commit me to Bedlam because I was not a good wife to him and I chose this to live in this time to save myself. I am selfish, Captain Becker, taking what I want with no consideration of others."

"I'm not sure Matt sees it that way," muttered Becker.

Emily blushed and lowered her eyes before drawing in a deep breath and staring hard at Becker again.

"This is not what I came here to discuss with you." she told him firmly.

"Ok," he replied slowly. "Then what?" and he knew from the look on her face that he would wish he had never asked.

"Jessica," said Emily clearly and calmly.

"I don't want to talk about that," Becker snapped, harshly.

"That's all right. You can just listen." Emily smirked as Becker rolled his eyes. After a moment's silence, Emily asked him bluntly, "Why have you not told her?"

Becker put on his "patient" face, the one he often used with Jess when he allowed her to ramble on, digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole, until she dried up under his gaze and changed the subject. Unfortunately, it didn't work with Emily.

"It is obvious to everyone that you have these profound feelings for her. And yet you refuse to acknowledge them, apparently even to yourself. Have you given leave to your senses?"

She paused, giving him time to respond. When he didn't, she continued.

"Captain Becker, you may not be aware of it, but that poor girl is in love with you," Emily rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Heaven knows why! Shouldn't you at least acknowledge that?"

Becker's face turned stony. "No," he said flatly.

"Do you have a reason for that statement?" asked Emily gently.

"I have plenty. None of which I am prepared to discuss with you," Becker's tone was getting less friendly by the second and he returned his attention to his gun, indicating the conversation was over.

Emily was not ready to leave yet. She had decided to say her piece and say her piece she would.

"I fail to see what possible reason you could have for not at least acknowledging that you care for her," she pressed.

"Because I don't," Becker muttered angrily, not looking up from the gun, hoping he sounded sincere.

Emily laughed and Becker guessed she wasn't buying his denial.

"Captain Becker, you forget I was there," she murmured gently, touching his arm.

He flinched her hand off his arm and stared at her, hard. "You were where?" he asked coldly.

Her gaze was as gentle as his was stony. She was not intimidated by him, as he had intended her to be and it was a little unsettling.

"I was there when Jess was bitten by the beetles. I was there when you carried her through the corridors and panicked about the lack of adrenaline -"

"I didn't panic," muttered Becker under his breath, but Emily heard him anyway and smiled.

"I was there when you held her in the car and in the panic room. I was there when you administered the adrenaline and saw the relief in your face when she opened her eyes. Are you telling me these were the actions of a man who doesn't care?" Her eyes probed deeply into his. He closed his eyes under the force of her stare, knowing she was right, but denying it anyway.

"I would have done the same for any of you," But he knew it was a lie, as did she.

"I don't think so. I saw you abandon your post for her Captain Becker. If it had been myself or Abby, you would have remained defending the ARC and let someone else take care of us. Only for Jess would you forgo the security of the ARC."

He sighed, knowing she was right and wishing she would leave.

"I saw your face when you found her covered in Lester's blood. You thought it was her blood and it frightened you. You wanted to comfort her but you couldn't, you daren't." Her insight was beginning to get under his skin. "Why won't you tell her?" Emily asked again.

Becker stood up, needing to put some distance between himself and the very annoying, persistent woman sat on the bench. With his back to Emily he made a small concession.

"Because she deserves better than me," he said quietly.

Emily stood too and smiled at his back.

"Don't you think she should be the judge of that?" she demanded softly.

He turned on her then, angry and uncomfortable.

"Emily, at some point this job is going to kill me!" he declared, running his fingers though his hair. "She deserves better than to suffer that kind of loss. You have no idea!"

Emily's face became cold. "I have no idea of loss?" she demanded, her anger resounding in the high tone of her voice. "I became trapped through an anomaly, I survived by keeping moving, watching friends I had made being taken by dinosaurs and diseases, being chased through anomaly after anomaly. I have left behind my family to live in this time and you think I know nothing of the pain of loss!" She stopped to draw in a noisy breath, her emotions threatening to get the better of her. Her self control won out, a surprising dividend of her Victorian upbringing and she sighed as his face fell and he looked chastened. She softened and spoke to him more gently.

"Becker, I know you have lost friends. I know you have witnessed your fair share of death and I know how you take it upon yourself to shoulder the burden of each and every loss. But you cannot let that stop you from enjoying what life has to offer. You are barricaded in this safe, cosy prison that you have constructed around yourself, no-one is allowed in and Becker is not coming out. However, there are many joys and pleasures to be had to temper the pain - if you just lower the walls for a moment."

His eyes looked defeated and when he spoke it was very, very softly.

"Emily, at some point, she will get hurt - or I will. I have to be careful, to prevent that." He looked so sad that Emily felt the need to comfort him.

She moved closer to him, standing toe to toe with him and gazing deeply into his eyes.

"So, if you're careful, you won't get hurt?" she whispered. He only nodded. She stroked his face gently with her hand and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"But if you're careful all the time, then what's it worth?"

She drew back, raising her eyebrow at him, then turned on her heels and marched out of the armoury, leaving Becker alone and bewildered.

_What if she was right?_

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><p><strong>Well, was she right? Answers please! :-D<strong>_  
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	2. Abby

**A/N Ok so this one-shot has become a series of one-shots lol. This idea came to me as I thought about how one-sided Connor and Abby's relationship sometimes seems to be and would Abby get cold feet about the wedding. I'm not great at writing Cabby so I apologise if they are out of character. Please let me know where improvements could be made! Reviews would make my day and help me write the next one! :-)**

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><p><strong>ABBY MATILAND<strong>

"_Cos everything is making your pretty head spin  
>And nagging thoughts are starting to sink in<br>With everything this way its better to forget  
>Than end up in a place with something to regret"<em>

_**Cosy Prisons - A-ha**_

"Forget it, Connor! The wedding's off!"

Abby threw the keys at the bewildered man sat in the passenger seat, slammed the car door and strode off into the crowded London streets. She had no idea where she was going and she didn't really care. She was angry, oh so angry, tension in every pounding footfall.

Connor was infuriating. Sometimes he was such a child! He couldn't be serious about anything to do with their relationship. The only thing he was serious about was his work - and then he got so sucked into it that he forgot everything else, including her. Damn him! He wanted to get married dressed as Han Solo. He wanted her to forgo a wedding dress and stand at the altar dressed as Princess Leia (preferably in the bikini outfit from Return of the Jedi)! He wanted little icing Sid & Nancy's on their wedding cake and Lester to perform the ceremony. And all this was to take place at the same hotel that hosted Jenny's wedding. The one that was ruined by Hyenadons! What the hell had she been thinking, asking him to marry her?

Why the hell was she with him anyway?

She stopped for a moment, completely shocked by that thought. Why was she with Connor? How had she got herself into this? Was there still time to extract herself from the situation or was she so trapped in this prison, made cosy by familiarity, that she could no longer escape?

She looked round desperately for answers and heard thumping music coming from her right. A bar. A loud, noisy bar with alcohol. She smiled. She could handle that - at least for a while she could pretend she was single, she could drink, get chatted up, maybe dance a bit. She smiled, feeling reckless, and hurried into the cool darkness to then be blinded by flashing lights and deafened by beat from the surround sound system.

She found a stool at the bar and ordered a cocktail. Taking a long draw on her straw she let the cool liquid spill down her throat, feeling the burn of the alcohol in her chest, and sighed, letting the warm, dizzy feeling settle in comfortably in her head. She closed her eyes and took another long draw of her cocktail and smiled happily.

She became aware of a presence to her left. Opening her eyes, she looked over and saw a young, not bad looking man. She smiled at him and half turned towards him.

"You want another?" he asked, indicating her drink. His voice was soft and had a distinctive lilt to it.

"Hell yes!" confirmed Abby, and quickly finished what remained of her first. As she sipped her second cocktail, the man sat down on the stool next to her.

"So," he said. "You want to tell me?"

"No," Abby's voice was firm. "I want to drink."

They sat in silence for what seemed like a long time, until Abby's second cocktail was nearly finished. The young man indicated to the barman for another.

"Just keep 'em coming," he murmured, with a smirk.

"What am I doing with him?" Abby asked absently.

He watched her, quietly, knowing there was more to come.

"Is it just that its comfortable? That he's familiar? That its easier to be with him than to go out and find somebody else?" rambled Abby.

"I don't know," said the man, quietly. "You tell me."

"He's just such a child!" raged Abby. "He wants to play video games all the time! He says the most inappropriate things at completely the wrong time! He's infuriating and exasperating and is incapable of making a decision for himself about anything!" She cringed. "Except of course that he wants to turn our wedding into a nerdy Star Wars convention!"

The man stifled a chuckle and nodded.

"The bastard," he said seriously, allowing her to continue her rant.

"Exactly!" Abby's eyes flashed. "I used to think his geekiness was cute. We were so young and he was so innocent and he would look at me with those big puppy dog eyes and think that I'd forgive him everything. And, worst of all, I would!"

She chucked the straw out of her drink onto the bar and took a huge swig, almost finishing the cocktail in one gulp. The man changed the empty glass for another full one.

Abby shook her head. "What was I thinking? Why do I always have to be the grown-up? Maybe I should find a real man who can take care of me, rather than me taking care of him!"

"I'm sure that can be arranged," the man whispered in her ear.

She looked at him then, startled and he grinned. "No, you know what?" Abby grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bar stool. "I want to dance!"

The music was pumping, loud and disorienting, as she pulled the young man along with her. She raised her arms in the air, gyrating her body and then pulling the man closer to her, indicating that he should do the same. With some reluctance, the man complied, stiffly and unsure of himself but Abby was too tipsy to care. She was having a good time, with someone other than Connor, and it was fun! She stumbled and the man caught her before she fell.

"Think you'd better sit down again for a bit," he murmured against her hair and she allowed him to lead her back to the bar.

"So," he said. "How did you and this man meet?"

Abby snorted. "I met him at work! He had a crush on me from the beginning, but I never saw him as much more than a friend…"

Her eyes misted, her thoughts far away. "He always drove me crazy, he was always doing something stupid. Back then that was part of his charm!" She shook her head as her reminiscing almost led her to think kindly of Connor. "But now I need a grown-up and he's still the same nerdy Connor that he ever was! I wonder if we hadn't got stuck together, the only two people in the universe, would I ever have chosen him at all! And was it just easier to stay together once we got back, rather than find someone else, someone better?"

She looked at him and saw incomprehension in his face. "Don't worry. It's a long story and one you wouldn't understand! " She paused for a second and cocked her head to one side. "Do you find me attractive?" she asked, batting her eyelids.

The man smiled. "Yes, you're a very beautiful woman," he told her truthfully.

"So I could find someone else then!" she declared.

"You could. But are you really sure you want to? Did this - Connor, is it? - does he make you so unhappy now?"

"Would I be sat in a bar, drinking, talking to you, if he didn't make me unhappy!" Abby spat.

The man shook his head. "Does he do nothing that makes you happy?"

Abby was silent. She didn't want to think about that. She wanted to be angry at Connor, she wanted this man to want her so she could forget Connor and move on without regret. Yet, here he was, telling her she was beautiful and then making her think nice things about Connor.

She sighed. Connor. Her Connor. Because he was, always had been and always would be, her Connor. Even if she treated him badly. No matter how many times she kicked him, disappointed him, treated him unfairly, he would always be there for her, always protect her, always keep her safe. In spite of his nerdiness, he had always known exactly what she had needed. He had kept his distance when she had needed him to, showing his love for her in other ways, like sorting out her brother and risking his life for her without a second thought. And, then when she had let him in, he'd waited patiently for her, taken it all at her pace, and not jumped on her straight after their first kiss. She smiled slightly as she remembered how awkward it had all been.

Then, stranded in the Cretaceous, it had been his will, his belief that they would get home that had kept her own small hopes going, and kept them alive. She may have kept them alive with her knowledge of dinosaur behaviour and what was safe to eat, but he had kept their spirits alive, their hopes alive with his steadfast, unwavering conviction that eventually they would make it home. Without him, she would have given herself over to her misery and let the Raptors take her.

She had been the one to kiss him again, all that time ago in the past. He had responded without hesitation and he had been warm and giving and, actually pretty hot. Her cheeks blazed red as she remembered that first night together. No declaration of love, even though they both knew they loved each other. They were just a man and a woman, the only man and woman in the world in fact. He had made her cry out that night, and even as he had shushed her for fear of attracting predators, he had deliberately made her cry out again just to hear the pleasure in that cry.

She shook her head miserably. God, how she loved him. What was she thinking sat here in some bar with another man, when she should be at home, letting Connor take care of her as only he knew how.

She looked up, at the man sitting next to her, and let the tears fall. He smiled at her.

"So, is it time to go home now?" he asked gently, his Irish voice softly caressing the words.

Abby nodded and managed a small smile. She leaned over and placed her lips against his cheek. "Thank you, Matt," she whispered.

Matt nodded once and carefully escorted her to his car, supporting her with his arm as she stumbled occasionally and leant heavily against him. He drove her to the flat she now shared with Connor, having moved out of Jess's place as soon as they had got engaged. He was about to help her out of the car when she stopped him.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked, confused.

Matt grinned. "Your black box is still on," he chuckled at the frown on her face.

He left her at the front door, before it was opened by Connor.

"Abby!" he cried. His face lit up and he pulled her forcefully into the flat. "Where have you been! I was so worried!"

She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely. He returned her hug, crushing her to him and kissing her hair.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Connor, I'm so sorry."

"Shhhh, its ok," he murmured between kisses. Then he pulled back slightly and stared down at her. "Are we ok?"

She gazed up at his face, open and honest, his brown eyes full of trepidation, and she stroked his cheek gently. "We're fine, Connor," she said and kissed him hard on the mouth. "But please, promise me, no Star Wars at our wedding?"

Connor pretended to think about this for a moment, before nodding and pulling her back into his embrace, muttering with a slight grin. "Ok, I promise, no Star Wars at our wedding."

Abby buried her face in his chest, breathing in his scent, feeling secure and safe in his arms. Hmmm, perhaps prisons as cosy as this one were not so bad after all. She heard Connor muffle a snigger and batted his arm with her hand.

"Connor, I know you had your fingers crossed, yeah?"

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><p><strong>So, what did you think? Sorry again if they weren't written well - I really seem to struggle with Connor and Abby. Reviews please to help me get better! :-D<strong>


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